As a student of human movement and a football strength and conditioning coach, I love watching them line up. They have a very unique (to me) type of o-line this year. They line up shoulder to shoulder (sometimes with even 9 on the line!), and come at the D-line hard from a 4-point stance most of the time.
I am loving their approach of reverting back to a 4-point stance. I try to encourage my own players (although it is hard as a S&C coach, not a position coach) to do the same. I see how much more potential these guys can have when the can get down low in a 4-point stance, keep their feet straight, and ensure their knees do not cave in. When they get off the line, they can generate much more power and be in a optimal/stable position. I also notice that the players who tend to line up (on offense or defense) without letting their knees come into a valgus knee position tend to not wear knee braces…weird! Mobility is incredibly important for these big men.
I think a big problem with O and D line players occur when they constantly line up with knees coming inside their feet throughout their career. They become comfortable in this vulnerable position, which makes it that much easier to injure their knees once they take a shot to them. I think if these player were to work more on creating a stable, externally rotated position, they would not be as susceptible to knee injuries. Sure…its football, and when a 300lb linemen falls on your knee, a 300lb linemen falls on your knee! Those injuries will happen and there is little to protect them from this type of injury. But, we can avoid some of the other (more common) injuries that occur by simply teaching our players what a more stable knee position looks/feels like and work on mobility, not just squat #'s.
For those non-football player out there, the same goes for you. Knees out is= OPTIMAL (or, per Takano and the recent debate online over the cue "knees out" maybe I should say- "not letting your knees collapse in once in any type of squat stance so that knees track inside the feet", or whatever cue you want to use...the bottom line is- that allowing knees to cave in is=NOT OPTIMAL). Getting up out of a chair, squatting, jumping, lifting a couch, riding a bike, or PLF'ing during a jump from a C-130 on a DZ…they all should be done with awareness of not letting your knees come crashing in. Can you make a block in the NFL with knees in? Can you clean 405lb with your knees in? Can you live your life with knees caving in all day? SURE!….but it is not optimal and isn't the BEST possible position for performance and injury prevention.
Practice makes permanent…and that goes for both good and bad practice. If you practice good positions, they become your default position; just as if you practice bad positions.
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| The player on the left has much more of a stable/strong base, and like I mentioned above, this an help prevent certain injuries |
VIDEO OF STANFORDS O-LINE:
What have you guys noticed this college football season or think about the 4-point stance?
